A hearing on the Capital Area District Library’s weapons policy postponed

Thursday, Feb. 24 — A court hearing on the Capital Area District Library’s weapons policy was postponed today at the request of the lawyer for Michigan Open Carry, CADL’s lawyer said.

The hearing had been rescheduled for March 8.

CADL was granted a temporary restraining order on Feb. 16 by Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina against members of the gun rights advocacy group Michigan Open Carry and anyone else seeking to openly carry a gun into a CADL branch. In at least six incidences since Dec. 11, people have walked through the downtown CADL branch openly carrying firearms. In the first incident, a man who later said he was 18 years old walked through with a shotgun strapped to his shoulder. All other incidents involved pistols.

CADL’s attorney Gary Bender said the request to postpone was made by Michigan Open Carry’s lawyer, Bloomfield Hills-based attorney Dean Greenblatt.

Greenblatt did not return calls for comment.

Bender added that the temporary restraining order against Michigan Open Carry and its affiliates will remain in place. CADL is seeking a “declaratory judgment” from Aquilina that allows the library to keep its policy.

Michigan Open Carry members have been challenging the library’s weapons policy. CADL’s policy allows valid Concealed Pistol License holders to carry concealed weapons, but it does not allow weapons to be in the open.

Michigan Open Carry members say the library is not allowed to have such a policy because a 1990 state law trumps the ability of “local units of government” to institute gun bans. However, Bender says CADL has a case because the library is by state law considered an “authority.”

“Authorities” are not included in the definition of “local units of government,” which are defined in the Firearms and Ammunitions Act of 1990 as a “city, village, township, or county.”

“That definition of local unit of government does not include authorities. If the Legislature intended to include authorities, it would have,” Bender has said.